This time
by SilveredFoxeh
Summary: Please note: Spoilers for Virtue's Last Reward within. Tenmyouji has a moment with someone who he has been wanting to talk to. Unfortunately the conversation he wanted to have isn't meant to be this time around.


Author's Note: If you have not finished Virtue's Last Reward this contains heavy spoilers for the identity of some characters and events. I urge you to only read this if you know them since discovery in the game is far better than running across things on the internet. I wanted to include a strong spoiler warning here and will leave a measure of space between the start of this very short ficlette and this Author's Note/warning.

Again this drabble contains Virtue's Last Reward spoilers.

Disclaimer: Zero Escape belongs to Kotaro Uchikoshi and the wonderful minds that work with him, Spike Chunsoft, and the localization from Aksys. I'm only playing with their series it is not mine.

Thank you and please enjoy. This is a practice one shot written from an impromptu prompt from a friend. Thank you so much epobbp for the inspiration.

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Junpei stared. The blood rushed away from his face in an instant leaving him light headed and disbelieving.

He wanted to collapse. To just cease existing. All his hope. All his failure to find her sooner. For what? He couldn't tear his tired eyes away from the blood soaked stain across the chest of the woman before him. The absolute stillness of her body. They'd carried her here to the infirmary even though it would do her no good. _No_ he thought. _Nothing would ever be good again_.

He could imagine her opening her eyes. Tell him this wasn't the timeline he was supposed to be in. He closed his eyes and held his breath as long as he could trying to keep his emotions from overwhelming him. For a split second he believed - when he opened his eyes it would all have been a bad feeling. A premonition of a horrible thing to come but not really the reality this time. Just like before.

He opened his eyes when he felt the burning begin in his chest - only partly from his lack of breath.

Still and lifeless she lay before him. He reached out a hand tentatively. In his heart he was still that 21 year old boy that had gone through a lifetime in only 9 hours. Before his fingers could brush against the cold truth he pulled them back. Afraid to face the bitter reality that was the end of the line.

 _Journey. What journey._ He thought. _All I ever was doing was careening towards the inevitable._ He wished he'd gotten there faster. That he had figured it out. Found her earlier but knowing her it was probably all some plan. Some destiny he couldn't see but had only glimpsed one day when he'd shared his reality with a scared little girl and enabled her to live. At least until now.

He felt old. Hollow. He couldn't stop staring at the object of his quest found at last, but broken beyond repair. He didn't know how much his heart could take.

A hand fell upon his shoulder, strong, but caring. A gentle voice whispered with compassion beyond what would have been expected of someone her age but appearances were always deceiving when it came to anyone involved with Zero.

"Tenmyouji?" Luna spoke softly. Pain reflected in her own eyes, even though Junpei had no way of knowing who the old lady was to her, or how she'd come to care so much.

He saw the reflection of a lost soul in the face that stared back at him. Some part of him finding a kindred spirit in their loss. He nodded pulling himself together.

"I'm alright." And he'd have to be. He had to at least get Quark out of this madness before it devoured him too. It had already claimed him. He realized that as sincerely as he realized that with his search over there was nothing left for him but to make sure Quark made it out of there, and he would do everything he could to make that happen. Nothing would ever keep him from protecting the ones he loved again.

He looked down one last time at the stillness before him and whispered in his heart where no one could hear him. ' _ **Goodbye Akane. Finally I found you and you're already gone.'**_ He closed his eyes on the vision of the body that no longer contained the spirit he chased for the majority of his life. _ **'I hope at least I'll see you sooner on the other side. Don't make me run after you even there got that? I'll see you some day. Wait for me**._ '

He had searched for 45 years. Death wouldn't stop him. He'd follow her to the ends of the earth and beyond. Even if this time around things were cut short. He'd find her for real. Someday.


End file.
